


Chance Encounter

by Anonymous



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Boats and Ships, Captain!Roman, M/M, Mer AU, Not really a pirate but close enough, What am I doing, mer!virgil - Freeform, offerings to the Void
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:54:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24243145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: A chance encounter in the moonlight may change the rules of the game of chase between a sea Captain and the elusive mer he's been tracking.An imagining of how Roman first began the tradition of throwing his hat overboard for Virgil to retrieve.Based on the fantasticcomicby the amazingly talentedvoidsides. I truly cannot recommend it enough.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders
Comments: 16
Kudos: 389
Collections: Anonymous





	Chance Encounter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Artfromthevoid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artfromthevoid/gifts).



> While this isn't normally my thing, I absolutely adored [voidsides'](https://voidsides.tumblr.com/) FANTASTIC series and was overcome with the urge to try and contribute something in some small way. Alas, I cannot draw for shit.
> 
> Honestly I don't normally write gift fics for people I don't know, but I found a mention in the masterpost (which you can find [here](https://voidsides.tumblr.com/post/190432466808/mer-au-masterpost-and-faq-some-of-the-links-in)) saying fanfictions are alright provided I give the credit that is obviously deserved. If this is not the case, I will absolutely take this down. No questions asked, no feelings hurt. This is all in good fun. All that aside, I hope you enjoy!

Waves lapped against the hull, caressing the marred wood as it rocked the ship under the Captain’s feet. The waters were choppy tonight, stirred up by the last remnants of the passing storm, but it didn’t deter him from leaning over the railing.

Logan would no doubt scold him if he found him awake at this time of night after two days of sailing through the brutal storm. They would need to get an early start the next morning if they were to keep to their schedule and make their deliveries on time…and yet, even knowing this full well, he lingered above deck. Waiting.

Roman’s eyes scanned the horizon for any sign of irregular movement, any flash of a shadow. Pale moonlight bathed the waters beneath the cloudless sky in a silvery glow, but still not enough to see beneath the inky blackness of the waves. He sighed, almost surprised when he found he could see his breath in the crisp night air. So cold already, though he hadn’t noticed the chill creep over him.

He should retreat to his quarters and get some well-earned rest, but instead he pulled his coat tighter around him and leaned out further still, as if those precious inches would allow him to see any clearer. He’d been so _close_ before the storm, closer than he’d ever been before.

Roman knew well that chasing merfolk was a fool’s errand, a sailor’s pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Half the crew must think him mad for it, but he suspected Patton understood, at least. In his own way.

Logan simply thought he was an idiot.

The ship lurched without warning and for a sickening moment Roman thought he might lose his balance entirely and topple clean over the side. He grappled with the wood of the railing for a better handhold, but to his horror, he felt his hat slip from his head. It brushed the pads of his fingertips as he made one last desperate grab for it, but when his balance threatened to betray him, he chose safety over the hat.

Curses slipped from his tongue as he watched it catch on the night breeze and sail lazily through the air. As if to mock him, it landed upright on the water and continued to float. Bobbing with the ship on the waves, in sight but far beyond his reach.

Roman wilted, half-collapsing against the railing in defeat as he watched the hat drift farther away. A hat that had survived storms and sieges (on the rare occasion they crossed paths with pirates), only to be stolen away by his own stupidity.

And he thought his day could get no worse.

Knowing there would be no good in watching it disappear, he cast one last long, mournful look back at his beloved hat before dragging himself away from the railing. He should have known better than to try and catch a glimpse of his quarry by night. Fate be kind, the game of chase between them was far from over, but tonight was not the night for it.

So he thought, until a splash broke through the steady beat of the waves against the hull, and something hit the deck behind him with a wet thud.

Roman spun on his heel, eyes narrowing as his hand drifted towards his sword. In the darkness, he could only make out the shape of a small bundle on the deck. With a clear view on all sides and no ships in sight, the Captain felt confident no person could pose a threat to his ship…but he knew first-hand there were greater dangers than mere people out in the open ocean.

Approaching the lump on the deck with caution, he couldn’t help but grow aware of how loud his heavy boots sounded against the wooden planks.

He struggled to process the sight before him, even when he grew near enough to make out distinctive outline of his hat in the darkness. Sopping wet with sea water, but whole and unmarked and _there_ on the deck when just a moment ago he’d thought it gone forever.

Throwing caution aside, he snatched it up and rushed to lean over the side of the boat again, eyes scanning the water below for any sign of-

“You’d think you would have learned your lesson.”

Roman’s breath caught in his throat at the sound. A voice he would recognise anywhere, though he’d heard it only a precious handful of times before. His eyes locked on the dark silhouette in the waters below, a snaking tail coiling and twisting behind the shadowed figure reclining on the restless waves.

A thrill shot through him at the sight of the creature he’d been pursuing for so long now to no avail, closer than he’d ever been allowed to come before. Sprawled out on the rolling waves as if without a care in the world while the crew slept soundly below deck.

The fleeting thought of sounding the alarm passed through Roman’s head, but he dismissed it as quickly as it came. He wouldn’t do that to his crew, not even for the chase. Not with the merman lounging so peacefully in the waters below.

Clearing his throat, Roman forced himself to piece together a reply. “I can’t say I was expecting to find you out here tonight. Getting a little overconfident, wouldn’t you say?”

“If our last encounter was any indication, I wouldn’t say I have anything to worry about.” Curse him, Roman could _hear_ the coy smile behind his words.

“The rocks were slippery!” he said defensively, and the breeze carried soft laughter over the lapping waves.

“You’ll have to do better than that if you ever want to catch me, sailor.”

“You can’t evade me forever.”

“Can’t I?”

He wondered if the creature raised an eyebrow then, how the delicate fins that extended out behind his ears would move as he said it. With a single motion the silhouette shot away from the edge of the boat to turn in a lazy circle, doubling back on his own serpentine tail. He never seemed to have any difficulty staying afloat, but then again, he always moved through the water with such effortless grace. The rocks were the only place Roman could come close, but the moment he touched the water again the game was already over.

No doubt he would deny slowing down to let Roman give chase for a while longer when the game ended too soon for either of their liking.

“Do you swim alongside the ship often?” Roman found himself asking. “At night, I mean.”

“When it suits me.”

“…Then do you think it possible our paths might happen to cross again tomorrow night?”

The creature paused, coils growing unnaturally still as he pondered the question.

“I suppose,” he replied at last, tapping a long nail against his chin. Roman couldn’t see clearly in the darkness, but he remembered well how those webbed fingers came to a wickedly sharp point. “It’s _possible_.”

“Then I _suppose_ it’s also possible that I might be so unfortunate as to let my hat fall overboard again,” Roman said with a theatrical sigh. “It certainly would be a shame if there was no one around to save it.”

Sharp teeth glistened in the pale moonlight. “Oh what a shame, indeed, _Captain_.”

With a final flick of his tail and a flash of a fin, he vanished beneath the surface of the water, leaving Roman alone in the cool night air. Strangely, the cold no longer seemed to bother him. Though still damp with the sea, he returned his hat to its place on his head and smiled triumphantly to himself.

He took in one final breath of briny ocean air before turning on his heel, praying the sound wouldn’t disturb any of his crewmates when he returned below deck. Even a lecture from Logan couldn’t rob him of this moment, but somehow he found himself unwilling to share the details of his encounter, however brief it may have been.

Perhaps it had been a fluke, teasing hollow promises the merman had no intention of following through with, but already Roman knew he would be back again the next night. If only for the possibility that he might catch a flash of purple in the blue, a flicker of movement in the ocean’s depths, he would happily cast his hat overboard a thousand times.

And somewhere deep beneath the waves, he wondered if his merman grinned as widely as he did at the thought of their next encounter.

**Author's Note:**

> If you had told me yesterday that I, an ace lesbian, would stay up until 1am writing a gift fic about a sailor who's gay for a merman...Well...
> 
> At least it was a fun style to experiment with.


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